Aaron Posner’s stage version of the popular Chaim Potok’s popular novel My Name is Asher Lev, from New Century Theatre Company at 12th Avenue Arts, is a powerful yet distant theatre experience.
Reviews
Reviews
Critical Condition: Heart’s in the Right Place With Village Theatre’s My Heart is the Drum
My Heart is the Drum, currently filling houses at Issaquah’s Village Theatre, is the penultimate show of their 2015-2016 season. It has a big heart and big problems, but also a fervent and hugely talented cast. They present this original musical (seen here first at...
Critical Condition: Mourning Becomes Kevin Kent, Janis Joplin Raises the Dead
Despite the seemingly dour and depressing title, Eulogy, Kevin Kent’s most recent non-Teatro Zinzanni related performance (also written by La Kent, with a double dose of it changes every show improve thrown in) is a master class in comedy with a delicious dollop of...
Critical Condition: Southern Discomfort Powerfully Set to Song
Parade is a historically based musical produced in 1998 on Broadway. It's a Tony Award winner for composer/lyricist Jason Robert Brown and librettist Alfred Uhry. It also has 7 other nominations, including Best Musical, plus 6 Drama Desk Awards. A national tour of the...
Critical Condition: Annapurna, When Less is More
Annapurna is the latest production by Theatre 22 at 12th Avenue Arts. It's a two-hander, one set play. It is not an epic. It may not change your life. It is not immersive theatre in the sense that the audience moves around the stage with (which is fine by me and my...
Critical Condition: Six Degrees of Stephen Sondheim
This week’s column spotlights a new Seattle staging of a classic Stephen Sondheim show, and a cast recording of a musical “fable” about the legendary leading lady of one of his early efforts, Gypsy. The profound impact of Stephen Sondheim on the Broadway musical, post...
Critical Condition: Of Wickets, Holograms, and Eulogies
Three very different musicals were on my plate this past week: an often revived golden age classic, an early off-Broadway oddity by a composer who became a worldwide success via the House of Mouse, and one a Canadian born 2-hander which barely ran on Broadway. Here...
Critical Condition: Believe In The Book of Mormon
When even the very folks being satirized, in this case The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as The Mormon Church) decide to advertise in the program of the raunchily irreverent yet sweet-natured, Tony award-winning, Broadway musical The Book...
Critical Condition: I Could Have Danced All Night
The holidays came early for musical theatre mavens this season with two superlative, locally produced musicals; one of which is most assuredly destined for Broadway, and one which is rumored for a revival with Colin Firth in top-billing. Both shows clearly demonstrate...
Critical Condition: Theatre Du Jour
Dinner Theatre use to be (and still is in some regions) shortened versions of say, Hello Dolly! or Oliver!, with salad bar, buffet entrees and side dishes, and desserts and coffee, often with singing waiters and waitresses. That sort of Dinner Theatre disappeared from...
Ms. Pak-Man: A Comeback So Good, It Had To Happen Twice
Who knew that Ms. Pac-Man was so funny? Take one over the hill video game star, stir in some drag, some music, and some humor, and mix in enough vodka that no amount of magic pills could possibly erase your hangover, and you'll have the recipe for Ms. Pak-Man: Bonus...
It’s The Hard Knock Life According To Tangerine
The marquee outside the Egyptian calls Tangerine a comedic romp, which is somewhat misleading. It’s true that the movie is outrageous, daring, and funny. But calling it a romp is akin to calling a trans sex worker a young, urban, professional. It’s a description that barely scratches the surface.